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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22610791">A Heartfelt Fate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctagonsRule/pseuds/OctagonsRule'>OctagonsRule</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Super Paper Mario (Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>a connection is not always romance but it can be, came across this concept more recently and didn't see much for Mario? so y'know why not?, sometimes exchanged eye color when the bond is strong from emotion or reaching out, soulmates with shared sensations and feelings with focus</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-29 07:27:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22610791</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctagonsRule/pseuds/OctagonsRule</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The phenomena of a soulmate is fairly common in a world with wonders from fire flowers to star powers, yet rarely the same for any match. A person could find one another near the end, others nearly from the start, and in some cases after death has made things tricky. Yet everyone can tell there's someone out there that they're connected to unlike anything else, for good or for ill. Everyone, but Luigi.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The Mushroom Kingdom was a peaceful place most days, with weather so idyllic one might suspect magic. It was one such day that two young plumbers were at work laying pipe for a new house in Toad Town without a care to weigh them down. A routine job, gorgeous weather, a pasta lunch packed and steaming in their thermoses- what more could either ask for?</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>The question, while rhetorical, was given an answer when Mario sat up suddenly directly into a pipe. Luigi was nearly in stitches at the sight, helping the shorter man up and offering an icepack from their lunches. </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Oh HO! <em>Hoh boy</em>, h-ha ha ha! Mama <em>mia</em> Mario! I haven’t seen you bean yaself like that in ages, hha ha what, you seen a spider??”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>While usually the quieter one of the two, Mario’s lack of response and holding his head quickly deflated Luigi’s humor. He never got off a tease without one being shot back, maybe the bump had been harder than he thought? Did, did they need to get to the doctor or-?</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>When Mario looked up at him finally, the blueness of his eyes paused any further train of thought. Usually, they were like a clear sky in the summer but now they looked like an ocean from a postcard and there could be only reason why.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“They’re in trouble- they’re afraid-”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Luigi had heard of it happening to others- almost everyone seemed to know someone who already had the experience, if not been through it themselves. Given their ages, it would seem to only be a matter of time before it hit.</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>‘But who could possibly be so frightened on such an easy-going day like this one?’ the green brother wondered as he looked up at the sky just in time to catch sight of the smoke plume before the sound reached them.</span>
  <span></span><br/>
<span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Today was the first day the Koopa Kingdom attacked, and how Mario would find out that Princess Peach was his soulmate.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Some time to simmer down after their first adventure and how life might be different now.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Surprisingly, unlike most situations where people found their match, Mario and Peach were taking the discovery at a slow pace. At least, as far as the gossip of the general public was concerned once word somehow got out.<br/><br/>Though, Luigi noted, the way the two were suddenly seen together often even weeks after the rescue could have been a dead give away too. Despite the stress of going into such dangerous lands, it was a relief to both Mario Bros that their princess was safe. <br/><br/>In fact, not really in any peril at all by the looks of things: A nice room, clean clothes, freshly brewed tea- if someone hadn’t witnessed the flying ship whisking her away, to a stranger it’d look like a diplomatic visit. <br/><br/>While there might’ve been a chance to talk things over or sneak the princess out there were a few missteps to either of those plans. <br/><br/>1- Luigi fell into a suit of armor at the top of a long, winding stairs that made the clatter of a thunderstorm all the way to the eventual floor. <br/><br/>2- The princess was wearing the one color that could never camouflage in a fortress, <em> pink </em> . <br/><br/>3-Bowser was <b>furious</b> at the gall of a break-in and <br/><br/>4- Out of instinct of a large, furious, fire-brimming mawed monster approaching, Mario threw a shoe. <br/><br/>Needless to say neither plumber was welcome in the Koopa Kingdom for the next 20 lifetimes off of how loudly they were shrieked at by Bowser’s aid, spells spurning them to run for it even after the king went down for the count.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Bowser really had taken the brunt of the brawl, as evidence of the radio silence from across the border. Though Mario wasn’t concerned much beyond the turtle trying again, Luigi did feel responsible, and was working on an apology letter.<br/><br/>“Dear King Koopa,<br/><br/>Hello! This is Luigi, one of the “short caps” who got Princess Peach, as you called us. While we had to rescue our kingdom’s ruler and will do so again if you’re thinking of trying again, I’m so sorry it got so heated this time. To be honest, you spooked my bro pretty bad. <br/><br/>If you haven’t lost, destroyed, or thrown it out, please let me get my shoe back. Mario keeps claiming it was because he wasn’t thinking but HE didn’t have to run with only 1 shoe on the rock path by all the <em>lava</em> you got in that castle.<br/><br/>Princess Peach is pretty forgiving though, if you wanted to smooth things over she’d let bygones be. I accidentally tripped and ruined her dress with a blueberry pie the other day and hey! No dungeon! You got a shot I’m sure.<br/><br/>Any-who, you got lots of king work ta do, I’m sure, so I won’t keep you. If you haven’t just tossed this into trash, ripped it up or burned it before this then<br/><br/>Wowie, good job!<br/><br/>Hope We Meet Under Better Circumstances,<br/>      Luigi”<br/><br/>After the fifth reread and finding nothing else to nitpick, he finally placed it in an envelope, signed a green calligraphy L at the top left corner, the right stamp for postage on the top right, and as neat as he could a “King Kooopa, Bowser” in the middle.<br/><br/>“There we go! Now just gotta find a parakoopa who won’t lose the mail this time,” Luigi had heard well the poor reputation of the local mail carrier. The last thing he needed was to get in the center of the town’s chatter for writing to <b>Bowser</b> of all people should the letter be lost with someone else’s papers.<br/><br/>It was bad enough that some assumed he must be jealous of Mario and Peach, murmurs of traitor could be disastrous for the family business. Sure it’d be a bit of a trek, but with how much attention Mario absorbed it left Luigi relatively unknown outside of the local towns they tended to work in and he wasn’t going near those.<br/><br/>So with a pep in his step and a goal in mind, the green plumber set out the house with a smile. Hopeful that maybe, like Peach kept suggesting when she spoke of how Boswer had her captive, that he wasn’t such a terrible guy after all.<br/><br/><br/>~<b><em>Meanwhile, in the main Koopa Castle</em></b>~<br/><br/></p>
<p><br/>“Sire you <em> know </em> how I’ve told you this before, you cannot FORCE a match!!” <br/><br/>Kamek’s shrill, scolding voice badgered the young king, who was covered in mostly unnecessary gauze. Bowser would fit in with a group of poorly done costumed children for how much is Right Hand was making him feel like one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Yea <em> yeah </em> I GET IT ALREADY!” He at last bellowed before the mage could get out one more “and another thing”. The room shook from his volume, as did Kamek. Bowser could tell from how the glasses were moving and his hat was close to falling off despite the magikoopa’s best efforts to remain still. <br/><br/>A deep sigh kept a silence from creating a ravine, Bowser sitting upright at the table and looking dejectedly at his hands. Hands that hadn’t changed from their fully orange-tinted color when he had taken Peach’s to hold like the stories often recounted.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>To guess at how many times he’d demanded Kamek to read him the tales of knights and heroes finding their true love- a princess- would be folly. There wasn’t a number that long, just like how no one could count the stars.<br/><br/>But like a fool he’d kept trying, searching as best he could even when anyone he asked told him he’d just, “know” when he’d come face to face with his match. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘They’re the fools- if you WANT something, you have to work for it- EARN IT!! And I’ll be the best ruler the Koopa Kingdom’s ever had if that’s what it takes to find her,’ Boswer often thought to himself after hitting another roadblock. Yet, this most recent failure had hit him hardest, and he could hardly bring himself to do his duties.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thankfully Kamek had had all the former-prince’s life being Regent to fill in for a month or so; but as the young lord wasn’t picking himself back up his advisor had thought he could rekindle that indomitable fire back to blazing with some good old fashioned reprimand. And so here they were now, as his king was about to finally talk back-<br/><br/><em> <span class="u"> <strong>*THDNK*</strong> </span> </em> <br/><br/>A very tired, disoriented parakoopa gained the startled attention of their superiors as they appeared smooshed against the conference room’s glass window. Reinforced, of course, given the king’s penchant since young to throw things with only ever-increasing strength.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>With a simple wand wave, the glass flipped around, allowing the sliding koopa to land on the carpet with a flail rather than onto the hard rocks or lava below outside with a scream. The wizened mage walked over with the use of his staff, giving the dizzy lad a stern look over for any mail before noting one letter with a stamp specifically for mail to the royal castle. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>‘That’s, odd. We don’t circulate these outside of soldiers for sending reports or records. But this,’ Looking over the mail carrier again, it was indeed a civilian. That was why they’d tried the window like one once they presumably couldn’t get inside without clearance. Kamek made a mental note to give the guards an apology for calling them inattentive buffoons with the attention span of gnats for not noticing those 2 intruders get inside. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Sire, it seems a mysterious note has arrived for you,” he announced, picking it up and giving it a wave to get eyes on it. Kamek felt a warm smile reach to his eyes at how alert and interested again Boswer became, following the paper like a dog would a bone.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Shall I dispose of this and leave you to your sulking or-?”<br/><br/>In a leap up and two wide breadths the letter was snatched and top fumbled open with no class but also no shreds. ‘Aaw, he’s gotten better at mail. I’m so glad I insisted on those lessons,’ Kamek thought as he finally took a seat. His king was by no means an idiot, but reading was never a field he was quick in. ‘Might as well get some rest.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Indeed it did take nearly 12 minutes of stumbling and muttering and squinting too- he might have to concede to those reading glasses Kamek kept implying about- but at last he had reached the end with a far different mood than when he’d started.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>He’d wondered why the red one had thrown a SHOE of all things at him, and while it still had made little sense, at least he’d been as intimidating as he’d hoped. ‘<em> Mario </em> ey? Wearing letters on their hats, weirdos.’</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Yet despite how he scoffed at looking for forgiveness, the humor came off the page and brought a smile he couldn’t stop. Even the last line, something that would on its own seem condescending, given it must’ve been from the green one from that day…</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“He’s the only one who looked back.”<br/><br/>“Hm?” Kamek stirred from a brief nap, looking puzzled but not expecting an answer. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Nothing. Look, make sure things are DONE for today and go to bed. You look like some tired-out Chain Chomp from all this work. I’ll be back at it tomorrow, got it?” There was no room in the question to do anything but agree, and with a sly smile Kamek merely gave a nod, pushed back his chair, and left the king be. Content with finally getting the bold young sire back in the game, and in leaving then missing Boswer join another one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Sure, he couldn’t hold a pen well, or write clearly for the sake of his throne, but he <em> could </em> find a servant too terrified to so much as squeak about what he was going to have them do. </p>
<p><br/>Determined and with a goal in mind, the red-headed koopa strode out of the room with a smile. Whoever he found and bullied into being his scribe, he would make sure they got it RIGHT when he gave a reply to this <em> Luigi </em>. Maybe with any luck, the beanpole wouldn’t take after his feisty fighter of a brother and not be such an annoying guy after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Happy Valentine's Day! </p>
<p>Yes, Mario owes Luigi a new pair of shoes and he won't let it go, it was a good set! His excuse that by being taller, Luigi's shoes are bigger and would be more effective is not an excuse being bought anytime soon.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here we go, my first written-out story in a long while and gosh do I ever miss trying for the long format. Hope it reads well and that everyone's having a swell time!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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